a series of unfortunate events, followed by a stroke of (luck?)
by allya373
Summary: Adrien has had an unfortunate experience when it comes to noticing things and relationships. But they do say that third time's the charm...
1. Chapter 1

Adrien loved being Chat Noir. He loved the freedom, the risk, the exhilaration of vigilantism - and saving the city by moonlight with his Lady was something he could never swap for anything else in the world.

Except, his particular supersona had influenced his civilian life, turning it in a bit more of a negative circumstance in some aspects.

Superhumanly bad luck was one of them.

The people of Paris were dense by default. One would have to be to be capable of missing such blatantly obvious details, that if not explicitly presented to their face with a dozen or so in-depth explanations, would deny they had even witnessed something out of the ordinary or mildly concerning.

Adrien, however, was on another level altogether.

He would never know of the strings of fate were true, or if in some mystical sense, destiny had willed him a soulmate, but even if he had been meant to be with someone, it was certain that his sheer obliviousness (intensified approximately tenfold simply from his affiliation with the Black Cat miraculous, aka the Ring of Destruction) would prevent him from achieving anything near a conclusive happily ever after.

At one point, the Powers That Be must have just given up on subtlety completely, because one day Adrien lay in bed lamenting his star-crossed love for Ladybug, the next fateful morning he had suddenly developed an interest in Marinette that was, despite his countless insistences otherwise, most certainly far outside the boundaries of "just a friend". Perhaps the blond was speaking in code.

In any case, the Power of Bad Luck™ struck against his favor once again, and no sooner had he exasperated the class (yet again) as well as the blue-haired girl herself with that god-forsaken expression, that aforementioned girl arrived at school the next week with her eyes clearly set on someone new.

Adrien really liked Luka.

He wasn't a bad guy, really. The guitarist seemed nice and friendly, and although he was a bit teasing, he made sure it was all in good intent. Adrien would have even liked to become good friends with him, if it weren't for his extreme openness and close proximity to _Adrien_ 's **very good** _ **friend**_.

So, when the punk rocker showed up to class and promptly stole the attention of everyone in the room (earning the admiration of even the intimidating Mme Mendeleiev, who had come here from her own class to see what all the commotion was and give the students a good talking to, only to meet a rather charming musician), Adrien made like a frustrated toddler and stalked off to the back of the room, plopping down next to the one person who seemed unfazed by the new face.

Marinette was very enthusiastically gushing at the front of the room, Alya looked slightly baffled but seemed happy for her friend, Nino appeared as if he was torn between glaring or sending pitying looks in Adrien's direction. Adrien huffed.

"I mean seriously, his music is nice and all, but why is Marinette looking at him like that when she could be looking at me, instead?" he said aloud.

The redhead beside him, currently absorbed in his sketchbook, did not respond. Adrien did not let that stop him.

"I just don't get what's so great about him," he muttered. "He shows up one day and suddenly he's the center of attention and everyone forgets about everything else. And why is Marinette suddenly so giggly and overly cheerful around him?"

"At least you had a chance with her to begin with," a small voice murmured. Adrien turned.

Nathaniel still hadn't looked up, and if Adrien wasn't 100% sure the voice he heard was new to him, he'd have denied the artist had even spoken.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.

Nathaniel shrugged.

"I mean, it's not like it was that hard for you to get her attention, so I don't know why you're so jealous all of a sudden," he said calmly, adding another detail to a page Adrien couldn't see.

"I'm not following you," the blond replied, a bit warily.

Nathaniel sighed.

"Don't be dense, Adrien," he said, with a bit of an edge to his tone this time, almost like an intellectual trying to explain something to a simpleton who couldn't grasp basic facts. "If you weren't so self-absorbed all the time, or, I don't know, maybe you are just really oblivious, but Marinette has been hardcore crushing on you for the past year, and _now_ you notice her?"

"She's been crushing on me? How do you know this?" Adrien asked, irritation surfacing at the word 'dense'. He wasn't ignorant, was he?

"I pay attention?" the redhead suggested sarcastically. "It's not really fair that you had a chance, missed it, and now you're entitled to mourn over your misfortune while some of us didn't even have the opportunity to begin with."

"Whoa, touchy much?" Adrien commented on the redhead's cool tone.

"Mm?" The artist turned his sketchbook to examine the drawing from an angle. Adrien didn't bother asking him what he was drawing.

"Anyways, like you're one to talk about not having a chance. You took her out on a freaking date!" the model objected.

"That doesn't count because 1, I forced her to go, and 2, she never actually had any feelings for me," Nathaniel pointed out.

"But it was still a date," Adrien countered. "You can't deny that you got farther than anyone else managed."

"Not my fault you were too dense to ask her out yourself," the artist repeated.

"Ughhhh, and it's not my fault that you're such a pushover, you didn't have the guts to ask her out yourself and maybe _make_ a chance for yourself until you were _akumatized_!"

"The point is, nobody was around to listen to _my_ problems, so I sucked it up and got over it. I don't even like her anymore, I just thought you were acting pretty entitled, talking like that..."

"Whatever," Adrien shrugged. "Like you have room to talk. I think going after someone because your date rejected your corrupt alter ego is plenty entitled."

The sketchbook suddenly froze in mid-air, and a head of scarlet turned around slowly to face the model, turquoise eye narrowing.

"Say, Adrien, how exactly _did_ you know about the date? I don't recall sharing it with anyone, and I trust Marinette enough to know that she wouldn't tell anyone, either." The shorter teen eyed him suspiciously, and Adrien suddenly found himself backed into a corner.

"I, uh….I...heard about it from someone….somewhere...after the incident. Yeah, it was a huge thing after your akumatization happened, and you know how fast word travels, hehe…."

"Oh, really? I'm sure.." Nathaniel's single visible eye narrowed still, and soon all that stood out from between his bangs were two thick black lines bordering a hint of turquoise on white. He did not look like he believed Adrien at all.

Adrien smiled and chuckled awkwardly - he had not realized how intimidating the ordinarily sweet, soft-spoken boy could appear.

"What are you hiding, Adrien?" Nathaniel whispered.

"N-nothing!" the blond insisted, leaning away the more Nathaniel leaned closer.

The redhead quickly leaned back.

"And why do you smell like camembert?" he asked annoyedly.

"Oh, uh, you could smell that?" Adrien asked apologetically. "Sorry, I, uh, just really love camembert, I guess," he shrugged, smiling casually.

"Yeah, well, try to cover up the smell, will ya? That stuff is _vile_ ," the redhead expressed disgustedly, digging around in his bag for something. He pulled out a small bottle and, a moment later, Adrien was engulfed in a toxic cloud of...minty strawberry…?

He coughed, fanning the vapour away from his face, and opened his eyes after a few seconds. Nathaniel put the bottle away in the meantime.

"There, now you look _and_ smell approachable," he assured the model.

Then, as if nothing had even happened, the redhead lost himself once again in that mysterious sketchbook of his.

It was the end of class, and Nathaniel had just left the desk that Adrien never bothered getting up from when the blond came to a (rather late) realization.

"Did you just compliment me?" he asked to the artist's back. The model couldn't see his face but he could've sworn that the redhead rolled his eyes right then.

"Delayed reaction much?" he asked, pausing for but a moment before continuing on his way.

Adrien jumped up from his seat and all but chased after him.

"Wait, I need to know! Were you or were you no-"

"Just give it a rest, kid." A tiny black god appeared with an expression that said only most plainly ' _I am 300% done with this shit_ '. "Hopefully this time around, you'll be a bit luckier, hey?"


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien was on to Nathaniel.

The one thing that could be said of his legendary obliviousness that represented a sole shard of hope, was that the blond was not typically one to trust blindly. Superheroing had given him at least that much of an instinct. Chat could be reckless, true, but he didn't walk into the opposition's arms half-assed. When it came to civilian dealings, though, Adrien generally tried to give his acquaintances the benefit of the doubt. A healthy dose of trust was necessary for friendly interaction and overall harmony.

But after what happened that day, Adrien had reason to be suspicious that the redhead had his own suspicions about him. Although still too dense to identify _what_ , exactly, he had tuned into his surroundings enough to sense something shady about the artist. And so Adrien kept his distance, avoiding Nathaniel at all costs.

It was working, too, until Paris' iconic spoilsport once again made his signature move and ruined the whole plan.

Adrien, deep down, was, to a very small, secret extent, grateful for the akumas. How else would he have been able to seek freedom from the depressing prison his father called a house. How would he have been able to attend school? What about meet Ladybug; Marinette? So, yes, he did have to thank Hawk Moth for some things. Giving orders was not one of them. Or, at least, the directions part of those orders, anyways.

Of course, that redhead just so happened to be in the exact place at the exact time the akuma chose to attack.

Chat had nothing against saving civilians. Since Ladybug was generally more needed on the offensive, he often found himself the one to guide bystanders away from the scene. They were just civilians, after all; he didn't have any bias towards saving any of them.

And although he would very much rather leave the transportation of the artist to Ladybug this time, he picked up the teen's surprisingly light form and vaulted them both to a rooftop nearby, taking off running to a safer place.

Up until this point, Adrien was fairly sure that the connection between him and Chat had not yet been discovered by anyone. He'd had Nathaniel crossed off the list, even till now.

Adrien made a mental note to change the way he carried civilians based on their perceptiveness.

"Hey, uh, Chat, do you mind? Only you reek of camembert and I can't breathe," Nathaniel said to him, the superhero's arms hugging him against his leather-suited chest.

Chat nearly dropped him right then, carefully setting the redhead down on a platform before he accidentally injured him out of reflexes.

"I'll be right back," he assured him. "The akuma is far away enough for now."

Then he jumped down and landed lightly on the ground before pulling out his baton and locating the closest perfume store.

"Bonjour, welcome to Divine Fragrances," a man singsonged as Chat pushed open the door. "How may I-"

"Hi, do you have any super-strong perfume I can use to cover up smells? I'm in kind of a rush..."

The man blinked before gesturing to the display of various men's scents.

Chat surveyed them quickly, then picked one at random, spraying it all over him.

"Thanks, I'll pay you back later!" he called, running back out.

"I'm back," Chat announced, arriving back on the scaffolding.

"Where were you?" Nathaniel asked him, climbing back into his arms. Chat held him a bit further away this time, although still tightly enough that he wouldn't risk dropping the teen.

"I had a couple errands to run," Chat dismissed, eyes searching for a safe place to deposit the redhead.

"Now?"

"Er, _very urgent?_ " Chat suggested.

Nathaniel shrugged, and shut up, more or less, after that.

"Are you wearing Adrien?" he asked suddenly, just when Chat was about to finally leave him on a bridge, very far away from the akuma. Chat froze.

"What?" he asked, betraying his resolve to ignore Nathaniel as much as possible.

"Adrien; the fragrance. You're covered in it," Nathaniel noted.

"Yeah, well, it smells nice..."

Nathaniel blinked.

"But...why?"

"Well, I mean, the camembert smell seemed to bother you, so I just..." Chat paused to silently ask himself why he was still entertaining this guy's questions.

Nathaniel stopped, flushing slightly.

"Wait, you really did that...because of... _me?_ " he asked, voice diminishing to a mumble. He looked down, avoiding looking at the superhero in front of him.

Chat glanced at the back; the akuma was coming closer.

"Sorry, I gotta split right now. Go home, or somewhere safer than here," he said, turning around and vaulting away.

Nathaniel stared after him, an almost dazed expression on his face. He sighed, shaking his head vigorously to clear it. Then he turned around and started on his way home.


	3. Chapter 3

He'd left his bag in the park.

Nathaniel was having a small frenzy over the disastrous consequences that would arise from someone finding his sketchbook, discovering his drawings, and tapping into the redhead's private sanctuary of secret ideas and dreams. Meanwhile, Adrien took it as the equivalent of a black cat crossing his path. Only, he was the black cat, and this bag was in his way.

He could have just left it there, but the noticing of a personal possession of someone he knew, it more or less insinuated the burden of returning it onto Adrien's shoulders. He cursed the fact that it had just so coincidentally landed there when it's owner dropped it, and now he was going to have to go out of his merry way _again_ to interact with Nathaniel and give it back.

Before the Second Incident with Nathaniel, Adrien would have still much preferred to return the object as his supersona. Nathaniel had not had anything to suspect of Chat, and, besides, the explanation of how he'd found it at the scene of an akuma attack would have been justifiable. But he didn't have Nathaniel's address, and he wasn't about to go and locate him to give him his bag in either ego.

In the end, after far more time spent deliberating on the topic than anything concerning the redhead was due, Adrien took the bag home and decided he'd figure out his best course of action tomorrow.

The next morning, Adrien carried both bags to school: his own slung over his shoulder, the blue in his arm.

He did his best to ignore the way Luka was walking Marinette to school today; giving her a warm hug before she went up the steps, sending him a flying kiss before she disappeared into the building. Adrien tried not to slam the door behind him when he followed her to homeroom.

He resolutely walked past the desk where Marinette and Alya were having some enthusiastic conversation, all the way up to the desk at the very back. Nathaniel sat, eyes boring anxious holes into the wooden surface; once smooth but now covered in etches and scratches of disinterested vandalism. Adrien dropped the bag in front of his face, jerking the redhead out of whatever thoughts were going through his rather perceptive mind at the moment.

"You left this in the park yesterday," Adrien informed him flatly.

Nathaniel took a second to register the new presences at his desk.

"Oh, uh...thanks…?"

"No problem," the blond responded monotonously, turning around and walking back to the front of the room. He slid into his own seat and pulled out his phone to distract him from the person sitting right behind him.

Mme Mendeleiev assigned partners for the next science project. Adrien was convinced that, as his luck would have it, he'd get put in the back desk. Thankfully, Adrien was with Juleka and Nathaniel was working with Marinette.

 _Oh, wait. That couldn't be right._

Adrien being able to avoid Nathaniel and work with someone he had no complaints about...who was also directly related to someone Adrien wasn't entirely ready to welcome at the moment?

 _Ah. Adrien knew there was a catch._

Nathaniel being paired with the one person Adrien wanted to isolate from other competition and win her affection back?

 _Double whammy._

But he wasn't going to object out loud. He silently cursed Nathaniel's fortune in being assigned to work with Marinette, then tuned them both out as Juleka brainstormed ideas with him at the adjacent table. He listened intently to everything Juleka was saying, and they had advanced to forming the project outline when Adrien's miraculously-sharpened hearing caught a few words from the conversation at the next table. Adrien paused, straining his ears to listen while Juleka analyzed her notes.

 _"_ _Sure, we can work at my house. I have mostly all the supplies we might need there, so..."_ Nathaniel was saying.

Adrien leaned slightly in his chair to make out Marinette's next words.

 _"_ _Great, where do you live?"_

The model forced himself to stay completely still and 100% attentive as Marinette copied down Nathaniel's slowly delivered address. Adrien repeated it a few times in his head before he was certain he'd memorized it, then quickly tuned back into what he was supposed to be discussing with Juleka.

"Sorry, I'm actually busy tonight," he apologized to the goth girl at the end of the day. "The project isn't due until next week, though, maybe we can get together tomorrow?"

Juleka shrugged in passive agreement, stepping outside with Rose to meet Luka and Marinette and walk home all together. Marinette waved goodbye to Nathaniel, who nodded before they went off in opposite directions. Adrien waited until there was no one left in front of the building before finally heading home.

"Remind me why you're so obsessed with this Nathaniel kid."

Plagg was stretching lazily in a nest of empty camembert wrappers and toilet roll tubes.

"He's suspicious, Plagg," Adrien answered impatiently, crossing out another note on the sheet in front of him. "I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like he knows something, or like he's up to something..."

"And your basis is?" Plagg questioned.

"Urgh, I don't know, Plagg! I just told you, he seems off. He's hiding something, I just know it!"

Plagg looked at him skeptically.

"So you think that this guy is...suspicious...because you _think_ he's up to _something_...gotcha," he said sarcastically.

"Come on, haven't you seen the way he acts?"

"...no?" the kwami asked. "Seems pretty normal to me. Emo, depressed, conflicted, poetically expressing the internal turmoil of life...teenagers are all the same this generation."

"He knows something. Something I don't..." Adrien frowned, clicking on another **wikihow** link.

"And he's not the only one," Plagg muttered under his breath.

He floated up beside Adrien to view the screen.

"If you're searching up how to stalk someone without seeming suspicious, I think you're taking this a bit far, don't you?"

"I have to figure out what's up with him..." Adrien murmured, scrolling through the different methods. He broke his gaze from the screen to glance at the solitary remaining wheel of camembert left in his stock, to the bottle showcasing his own face, sitting on the shelf.

"I also have to figure out what to do about that awful smell," he said, making another note. He looked up. "Is it late enough to go out yet?"

Plagg gave him a long look.

"Subtlety isn't your finest, kid. Let's go through a couple more of those links, first, then we'll see if you've got what it takes to be a stalker."

Adrien glared.

"Well, that way _you_ say it..."

"Just telling it like it is," the tiny god shrugged.

The blond sighed.

"Whatever," he said, typing in a new search.

Plagg squinted at the screen.

" _How to tell if your former rival is secretly plotting something_ ," he read off the screen, then glanced at his holder, unimpressed.

Adrien shrugged innocently.

"I've gotta kill some time, why not make the most of it?"

Plagg internally facepalmed his head into a brick wall. Metaphorically speaking.

" _That's not how it works, kid,_ " he hissed, zooming to the cabinet to eat the last wheel of cheese before Adrien performed another demonstration of maddening stupidity.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Adrien got up from his computer and walked over to poke his kwami awake.

"What, _now_?" Plagg asked irritably.

"There's no more time to waste," Adrien announced. "Plagg, claws out!"

And suddenly, where stood the face that was plastered on practically every advertisement and beauty item in Paris, there was now a leather-clad superhero with a penchant for puns and misfortune.

And then, even he disappeared from the room.

Chat propelled himself over the rooftops with his stick, using the GPS navigator to locate Nathaniel's residence. He chose to settle down on top of a building far away enough to detract attention, and switched the device to camera mode.

He mumbled numbers under his breath as the zoom-and-enhance lens displayed sign after sign until he finally found the one bearing the redhead's address.

"Whatcha doing?"

A curious voice had him reflexively collapsing his baton and snapping into another position. Chat relaxed slightly before responding, "Oh, it's only you."

He sighed and laughed casually.

"Didn't see you there, m'lady," he said. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing much," she waved off. "Just passing by, is all. Thought I'd see what you were doing. Peeping, huh?"

"Whawhawha-of course not!" he replied quickly. "I just wanted a breath of fresh air in this lovely part of my wonderful city!" He grinned innocently.

"Alright..." she shrugged. "Guess I'll be off, then. Seeya!"

"You too, Ladybug," he waved, and she leapt off the roof and left.

He sighed softly, watching her retreating figure, then turned back to the task at hand with full resolve and determination.


	4. Chapter 4

Chat squinted at the tiny screen, moving the baton from window to window to identify the one that belonged to Nathaniel himself. He zoomed in to peek through each glass pane, struggling to figure out how he would be able to recognize the redhead's own bedroom. In Adrien's head, he pictured a small room, walls covered in artwork, and a bulletin board on one wall, lined by lengths of red yarn, connecting pieces of some mystery that the artist was bound to be involved in.

Instead he found Nathaniel hunched over a desk, right next to a window at the top of the building. Chat leaned over the edge of the rooftop to try and get a view of something more, but that would be mostly impossible without being perched next to the window itself. And Chat couldn't risk being caught.

At the same time, though, he needed to see what Nathaniel was doing on his desk. It might have been homework, but he wasn't about to give the redhead the benefit of the doubt just yet. If Nathaniel could only move his head just the tiniest bit…

Luckily for Chat, the redhead held the book up in front of him just then, and if Chat found just the right angle, he could clearly see what was on the page...until he leaned so far out over the rooftop that he teetered off. His baton extended without command, keeping him from crashing onto the ground, but then it pivoted him onto the opposite plane. Which just so happened to mean that Chat slammed against the wall, nearly crashing into the window he was looking through, and balanced himself onto a tiny extension of protruding brick to prevent himself from falling off.

Then he glanced to the side and cursed inwardly. There was no way Nathaniel would have missed _that,_ and, sure enough, the redhead peeked his head out a moment later. For a few seconds, the two teens simply stared at each other, blinking, before Nathaniel broke the silence.

" _Chat?!_ What are _you_ doing here?"

Chat did some very quick thinking.

"I was out for an evening stroll!" he replied innocently. "The air is very nice and fresh in this part of the city!"

"O...kay? You okay there?" Nathaniel asked, gesturing to Chat's struggle maintaining balance.

"Of course! Excellent balance exercise," Chat assured him, crossing his arms and swooping one leg over the other in a casual pose. However, the movement caused his feet to give way, and he let out a shriek, hastily regaining his place.

"That doesn't look very safe..." the redhead said skeptically. "Maybe you should come inside..."

Chat froze. Nathaniel was literally inviting him into his own house. It was far too convenient to be plausible.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind.." Chat relented, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Nathaniel shrugged.

"It's better than leaving you there hanging," he said, then winced. "No pun intended."

Chat smirked.

"I, for one, think your puns are _pawsitively_ on point," he told the artist.

"Please don't," Nathaniel said, a pained expression on his face.

Chat ignored him and hopped in through the window. He landed lightly on the floor and straightened to take a look around.

Apparently he had been wrong about expecting an artsy theme. Nathaniel didn't have a single original work up.

His room was, however, covered from top to bottom with fan merchandise and fan art. Posters of anime serials and excerpts from manga, as well as promotional products and prints, occupied every square inch of wall and door. There were even pillows and plushies of Ghibli movie characters on the bed.

Chat stared long and hard, taking in the whole room. It was breathtaking.

Of course, what kind of devoted otaku would Adrien be if he didn't have a shrine to Japanese media? However, his own consisted more of cleverly hidden goods and the unnoticeable poster here and there, but his father would have never let him get away with _this._

"...Chat?" Nathaniel's voice was hesitant, but it jerked the superhero back to the moment nonetheless.

"Yes?" Chat turned around to see Nathaniel looking back at him awkwardly. "Oh, sorry, I was admiring your room decor."

"Oh, you like anime?"

Chat gaped at him.

"I don't _like_ anime, I _love_ anime," he corrected quietly.

" _Oh,_ " Nathaniel understood. "Me too."

Chat looked around the room for another few minutes before his eye fell upon a card of Japanese calligraphy that reminded him of…

"What time is it?" he asked suddenly.

Nathaniel jumped, subtly closing the book on the desk behind him.

"It's, uh, 7, why?"

"I have to go," Chat said. "Thanks for showing me the bedroom, gotta split, bye!"

"I...didn't?" Nathaniel asked dubiously, but Chat was already gone. The redhead shrugged and went back to work.

Chat may have been interrupted because of Chinese lessons yesterday, but he vowed to get to the bottom of the Nathaniel enigma as soon as he could.

Unfortunately, there was another akuma. One that Nathaniel wasn't involved in. Chat wasn't sure if that was good for him or an inconvenience at this point.

By the time Ladybug had purified the akuma, it was too late to stalk civilians with a half-justifiable excuse.

Adrien was growing impatient, but he waited.

The next evening, Chat strode into Nathaniel's room by himself, scaring the daylights out of the inhabitant artist, before getting a stern telling off about walking into people's houses uninvited.

"What do you want, anyway?" Nathaniel asked, still regaining his composure.

Chat shrugged.

"Nothing-oh! Look, look- there!" He eagerly pointed to a random spot outside the window.

Nathaniel turned and Chat tried to get a quick glance of his sketchbook before Nath caught on.

"Ooh, wow, you're right," Nathaniel said interestedly, leaning out the window.

Chat turned too, surprised. It had been intended as a joke…

"What is it?" he asked, quickly putting the sketchbook back on the desk. He walked over to join the redhead at the window.

"Oh, nevermind, it's gone now," Nathaniel said disappointedly, turning back.

"What was it, though?" Chat asked.

Nathaniel shrugged, sliding onto his chair. He opened the book and leaned over it, bangs falling to cover whatever was on the page. Chat looked at him, confused. _Oh, whatever._ There were more pressing concerns at the moment. Like what was in The Sketchbook of Secrets.

"Sooo, Nathaniel..." Chat started in an attempt to distract him. "Whatcha doin'...?"

Nathaniel didn't respond, busy shading something in. Chat groaned and occupied himself with the wonderful decoration.

"Hey, uh, why isn't any of _your_ art up here?" Chat asked, genuinely curious. "I thought you'd put your paintings and stuff on full display..."

"It's not really that important..."

"Well, you should," Chat recommended. "Your stuff is good enough that you should put it up. I mean...it's not like I've ever seen it or anything..."

"I'm really not that good," Nathaniel mumbled, flushing slightly.

Chat suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"Maybe if you could show me your sketchbook I might have a better idea of your skill..." the superhero suggested, extended his hand in expectation and leaning over to see.

Nathaniel frowned, closing the object of Chat's burning curiosity.

"I don't really like showing my stuff to other people..." he said, glancing at Chat slightly suspiciously. "Why do you want to see it, anyway?"

"Er..." Chat laughed casually, searching desperately for an excuse. "No reason..."

Nathaniel was scrutinizing him the same way he had scrutinized his alter ego. Chat needed a distraction before the artist caught onto something.

"You look like a strawberry," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"I said you look like a strawberry," Chat repeated, eternally thankful that he had semi-successfully diverted from the pressing topic. "Even the shape of your face, when you're blushing like that, you look just like a strawberry."

"I'm not blushing..." Nathaniel said, flaming cheeks giving him away.

"See, told you you look like a strawberry," Chat confirmed, low-key smug that he had fully succeeded in avoiding a disaster. "I'll just see myself out, now," he waved.

"Well, just so you know," Nathaniel retorted, sticking his head out the window to yell at the leaving visitor. "There was nothing outside. I was bluffing you, only you're clearly too dense to notice!" Then he snapped the blinds down.

Chat shrugged.

"Still a strawberry," he said to himself triumphantly.

But his small victory dissipated by the time he was back in his room.

"It's been almost a week and I still don't know what he knows or is hiding," he sighed, collapsing onto his bed.

"You're probably not welcome at his house again, either," Plagg added dryly. "But who cares? I want my camembert!"

Adrien glared.

"Can't you see I'm trying to come up with a strategy? Go bother someone else for your camembert!"

"Given that I'm supposed to be a secret, who am I supposed to bother?"

"Ughh," Adrien groaned, pushing himself back up. "Fine, I'll get you your cursed camembert..."

He granted the kwami one wheel, securely locking the rest in a vault that Plagg supposedly could not access. He was fairly sure, anyway, since Plagg had to hide his eyes when Adrien was opening it, and he hadn't managed to phase through once despite the temptation. The blond made sure to spray himself down and the area around him with the perfume he'd bought a few days ago.

"Y'know," Plagg mentioned thoughtfully, nibbling on his cheese. "That redhead kid could be a strawberry, but you look a lot like a banana."

Adrien frowned, looking at him.

"...is that supposed to be implying something…?" he asked suspiciously.

"Of course not," Plagg dismissed. "Get your mind out of the gutter. But, now that I think about it, your hair _does_ look like it's made up of a whole bunch of little bananas."

Adrien rolled his eyes.

"How does _anyone's_ hair look like it's made of fruit?"

Plagg shrugged.

"Could just be the visuals," he said.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," the kwami quickly waved off. "You wouldn't understand."

"Uh, huh.." Adrien nodded warily, narrowing his eyes still.

"What're you staring at me for, _Bananadrien_? Go watch your anime and let me finish my camembert in peace!"

Adrien's eyes widened in shocked panic.

"I forgot! The new episode of The Seven Deadly Sins season 2 was supposed to come out! Oh, I've been so caught up with Nath, it completely slipped my mind!"

Adrien didn't waste a second in turning on his TV and finding the latest episode to stream.

Plagg rolled his eyes from his place on the foosball table.

"If he keeps this obsession going with that redhead, they'll be dating before long," he mumbled to himself, then shrugged. "I totally called it."


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien Agreste decided that he hated schedules. His own schedule, more specifically. He decided that about a week after his parents started making them for him, which was...a very long time ago.

Anyways, he hated having a set list of things he had to do and places he had to be and just the general absence of flexibility and the freedom to do what he wanted to, when he wanted to.

Of course, Adrien wasn't the only one, and the world doesn't work like that.

Would Adrien have voluntarily sacrificed every one of his evenings for the next indefinite period of time to satisfy the curiosity that was now verging on the brink of paranoia? Curiosity did kill the cat, after all. The answer was yes.

Would that have been completely creepy and definitely set his objective on edge? Perhaps. Okay, probably.

But Adrien could not do that because he was not only a part-time superhero, vigilante, and amateur private eye (the term amateur is used _very_ loosely here), he was also a teenage student suffering from sleep-deprivation and overwork.

That day was the first time Adrien had fallen asleep in class. Sounds skeptical, but it was true. Adrien _used_ to be legendarily adept at paying attention, which was kind of necessary, because if someone with average perceptiveness took a certain amount of concentration to understand something, then Adrien...well, you can infer from there.

The author apologizes in advance for subjecting Adrien to the status of the epitome of density. Because his obliviousness will only be more exaggeratedly magnified from here on out.

Anyways, that was when he realized that no one, not even the teachers, cared if you were awake or asleep in class, so long as someone that vaguely resembled you was sitting in your seat and they were quiet. Adrien later reasoned that he ought to have noticed earlier and that this was probably a daily routine for Nathaniel.

However, unlike Nathaniel and anyone else who was experienced with sleeping in class, Adrien was not equipped with a subconscious body clock that recommended him to wake up conveniently before the classroom emptied.

Nino had actually sat beside the redhead last year, so he knew better than to wake a sleeping person. Only, in Adrien's case, this was not very much appreciated.

Adrien showed up to science class seven minutes late.

Mme Mendeleiev was actually more annoyed about him being late than she was about Ivan dozing off a few seats behind him. He hastily apologized and slipped into the empty seat, glaring at Nino, who merely shrugged.

It was during science class that Adrien came to another unfortunate discovery that made him like his schedule even less: the project was due in two days and he hadn't done a thing. Juleka didn't seem irritated, only mildly annoyed, really, but his procrastinating and putting it off for the last week hadn't done either of them any favors. The goth girl suggested her own home to work at, since Adrien didn't really feel like bringing project partners over to his place, what with his father around.

It looked like he wasn't going to able to pay a certain red-haired artist a visit this evening.

The project didn't go half-bad. Juleka knew her stuff pretty well, and Adrien forced himself to devote his entire concentration on something other than Nathaniel or Luka for once, which resulted in the project being completed in a single evening - thank goodness.

Luka wasn't a problem, either. He popped in once to inform them that dinner was ready, keep to his own room, mostly, although Marinette was there at the beginning. She had to leave soon, though, because she and Nath hadn't finished the project either. Adrien did a very good job of distracting himself and keeping himself occupied with his work. He was reserved but polite, keeping his distance from his partner's brother, but not so curt as to seem suspicious.

By the time they were done, it was too late to do anything other than go home, although Adrien did make a deliberate detour through the redhead's neighborhood, if only to make sure he wasn't up to something questionable at this late hour (Adrien purposefully remained oblivious to the hypocrisy).

Unfortunately for him, Nathaniel was awake. In fact, not only was he awake at this unearthly hour of 9PM, he was also accompanied by none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They both looked exhausted, and seemed to be enthusiastically working on their project. Chat didn't mean to peep, but from his convenient position and its view, as well as his considerable logic and reasoning skills, he assumed it was art-themed. Excellent observation skills indeed, Adrien thought to himself, frowning as he tried to discern whether their comfortable interaction spelled friendly classmate camaraderie or something else. Which would suggest that not only was Nathaniel really a very sneaky person, Marinette was cheating.

Preposterous ideas indeed, but Adrien wasn't crossing any possibilities off until he was absolutely certain with total conviction that they were indeed out of the question.

And now, as Chat peered still through the window, he could recognize the affectionate, slightly dreamy expression on Nathaniel's face, despite being too far away to be able to see clearly through the glass pane. And Marinette was...Chat was close enough to see her more clearly, now, yes, Marinette had the audacity to be _nodding off_ against the bedframe of the bed in the bedroom of a male classmate. A male classmate who had been confirmed to have previously harbored affections for said girl. _Oh, the scandal!_

But then Nathaniel froze as if his sixth sense had been piqued (there were actually more than six senses - Adrien had done research on this - but we shall call it a sixth sense because to call it his Spidey sense would be inaccurate in this case, even though it is the closest applicable term), and turned around to glance outside. Chat immediately went into fight-or-flight mode, electing it safer to throw himself to his own death on the other side of the building, than to have to produce a justifiable explanation why he was here at this time. Heaven forbid Nathaniel grow more suspicious than Adrien suspected he already was.

The irony of the whole situation was poetic, really, but Adrien was going to deny that for now. Obliviousness did have its benefits, and a large supply of excuses was one of them.

Chat sped home at Mach 12, not pausing to think or breathe until he had landed on the floor of his own bedroom and de-transformed as he collapsed on the sofa out of exhaustion. His neck was thrown back against the top of the sofa, and he rolled his head back the left to look at Plagg, who was looking at him with an expression of mixed disapproval, exasperation, and irritation.

" _Adrien freaking Perfection Agreste!_ " was all the black god could say out of sheer frustration.

"Yes, Plagg?" Adrien asked in mock politeness.

Plagg looked like he was ready to explode, blow a fuse, go into a coma, do literally _anything_ to save himself from this absurd and unconventional torture.

"Are you alright, Plagg?" the blond tried again, patronizing. Plagg managed a glare.

"Would you like some cheese, then?" he asked one final time, feeling rather sympathetic and forcing himself to get up and grant his kwami some camembert out of pity for the poor sprite's sanity.

Plagg snatched it from him, taking a nibble out of a corner for lack of words to describe the situation. Adrien watched him with mild amusement, tired all the same. He changed into a set of pyjamas and decided to dedicate tonight to sleep instead of stalking or anime. He didn't want to be late to class tomorrow again, either, but on top of that, his brain needed a break from the overstimulation it was being subjected to as of late. The same could be said for Plagg, who floated over after taking an age to finish his camembert.

" _In all my millennia..._ " was the last thing the kwami said, shaking his head as he flew close enough but left considerable distance between himself and Adrien.

And then all of the model's worries and thoughts evaporated into the sweet release of long-overdue sleep.


End file.
